December 3, 2013
After finishing third in the Sunflower League and losing in the sub-state championship game a season ago, the Shawnee Mission Northwest High girls basketball team is in somewhat of a reloading mode.
The Lady Cougars must replace three seniors — including starter and first team All-Sunflower league player Anna King — from a team that went 16-3 after losing to Blue Valley.
“We lost three incredible seniors and they brought leadership and an amazing work ethic,” SMNW coach Jeff Dickson said.
But there won’t be a lack of experience moving up the ranks as seniors Amanda Hoelting, Meghan McCluskey and McKayla Ross take the helm, alongside junior Arielle Jackson and sophomore Brenni Rose.
During the summer, the Lady Cougars went 26-7, including first place at the Emporia State Championship and second at the Cougar Classic.
“We have a great group to work with (and while) they have their struggles, (we) all have heart and we have a great chemistry,” Dickson said. “We are a group that is very committed to working together and driven to succeed.”
The Lady Cougars will host their first two games of the season against Shawnee Mission West High on Dec. 6 and Washburn Rural High on Dec. 12., with the rest of the schedule appearing no less daunting.
“We have one of the toughest schedules in the state of Kansas and the sunflower league is the toughest league in the state,” Dickson said.
Roughly half the teams on the schedule — Olathe South High, Leavenworth High, Shawnee Mission East High, Olathe East High and Free State High — are going to be teams to reckon with, Dickson said.
“But we are a hardworking dynamic group of young ladies who will compete every second of every day and will work hard to play the game the right way,” he said. “We have huge team goals and we want to work to get better every single day and put our best effort forward every minute of every day and if we do that we will be successful.”
On Monday, the Lady Cougars were ranked fifth in the preseason 6A poll by the Kansas Basketball Coaches Association.
Angelique McNaughton 